GORE: You are use to DSCOVR being down here. It`s probably -- it`s very exciting for me.

SCHULTZ: Plus, an Alabama judge speaks out against equality.

CHIEF JUSTICE ROY MOORE, ALABAMA SUPREME COURT: When people finally can create rights, there`s no end to the power of good God (ph)...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Good to have you with us tonight folks. Thanks for watching.

We start this evening with some brutally honest remarks coming from President Obama on climate change. In an interview with Vox, that would V-O-X, President Obama said the media overstates the risk of terrorism compared to climate change.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW YGLESIAS, EXECUTIVE EDITOR AT VOX: Do you think the media sometimes overstates this sort of level of alarm people should have about terrorism and this kind of chaos, as opposed to...

OBAMA: Absolutely. And, you know, I don`t blame the media for that. You know, what`s the famous saying about the local newscast, right? If it bleeds, it leads, right? You show crime stories and you show fires because that`s what folks watch. It`s all been about ratings.

And the climate change is one that is happening at such a broad scale and at such a complex system that it`s a hard story for -- I think the media to tell on a day-to-day basis.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: President Obama thinks that media clings to stories like terrorist attacks because it`s easier to cover and it rates.

Climate change is more complex, it`s long-term and difficult for the press to get excited about it and cover it. We`ve tried to do it on this program cover climate change. We think it`s important extensively to the point where we have exhausted coverage of the Keystone XL pipeline. And we also think extreme weather events around the country are very important and we think it`s all connected to climate change.

At this hour, New England is being slammed by its third major snowstorm in three weeks. The storm is expected to dump two feet of snow in parts of the region. Sound normal to you? It could bring the snow totals in some areas up to 80 inches and we still got a lot of winter left. That means digging out of 6.5 feet of snow.

Over the past three weeks, snow plows in Massachusetts have moved enough snow to filled Gillette Stadium 90 times. Well the Mayor of Boston, Marty Walsh says it`s a record setting winter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR MARTY WALSH, (D) BOSTON: These storms that we`re getting is unprecedented. We`ve never seen this type of snow here in the city of Boston in any other time in the history of our city. And this discussion that could be more snow at the end of the week.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Severe weather like this that we`re seeing in New England is really becoming part for the course. There`s little doubt among scientists severe weather and climate change are clearly connected. A new study from Georisk research shows world natural catastrophes have been steadily increasing. In 1980, there were roughly 400 catastrophes. In 2014 it was close to 1,000, easy math to do.

Some of these events are happening right here. For instance, other extremes. California is experiencing its worst drought in over 1,200 years. San Francisco just saw its first January without rain, not a drop of rain for 165 years. Last summer, we saw record wildfires in the state of Washington, parts of Lake Erie turned into a toxic algae bloom during the warming temperatures. And of course in January, NOAA announced 2014 was the warmest record on global records. I mean, you go one, two, three, four, five, it`s one after another.

These are record breaking times when it comes to severe weather. Meanwhile, Republicans, what did they do? They deny science and they say that man is not the problems when it comes to climate change. It`s rather startling.

Last month, Senator Brian Schatz attached an amendment to Keystone XL Bill saying, "Human activity significantly contributes to climate change". 49 Republicans voted against the amendment including the new chairman of the environment and public works committee.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JIM INHOFE, (R) OKLAHOMA: Climate has always changed and always will. There`s archeological evidence of that, there`s biblical evidence of that, there`s historic evidence of that. It will always change. The hoax is that there are some people who are so arrogant to think that they are so powerful they can change climate, man can`t change climate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Clearly, science means nothing to Senator Inhofe. A few days later, Senate Republicans approved the Keystone XL pipeline. It`s just the latest step in their radical agenda to let oil companies run amok, do whatever they want. Some Republicans want to eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency. They don`t know why they just say they don`t like regulations as if they don`t anything good at all. They want to drill now off the East Coast and the President is wrong on this to allow it to happen and they wanted to drill in National Parks.

As we`ve documented on this show, there is no such thing as safe oil drilling or pipelines.

I was down on the gulf this weekend covering the aftermath of the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster. Almost five years later and the gulf is still a mess.

If science denying Republicans had their way, all our oceans and public lands would be at risk. They want to drill everywhere.

Next week on the Ed Show we`re going to bring you a five part series on the gulf. We`ll tell you about the destroyed lives and businesses, the environmental impact, the health issues that people are dealing with. And just what is BP doing when it comes to financial restitution. Our series starts next Monday, "The Gulf Today Five Years after the Spill".

And tonight, let me introduce to you to what is known down in the gulf as a tarball. This is oil. This was oil that was released from the oil spill five years ago. And then they put the chemical Corexit on it and of course the mass comes together, it drops to the bottom of the gulf and this tarball was picked up in recent days by a shrimp boat in the gulf.

Now, this is what`s happening. This isn`t being reported anywhere. The bottom line is the gulf is still a major story. Did you know that $20 billion that they committed for restitution for all the people who`re hurt on the gulf. No, only $4 billion has been paid off. Do you know that there`s a tremendous amount of litigation that taking place right now and lives have been destroyed, careers have been lost and there`s a tremendous amount of strive in the gulf right now. But if you see the commercials and you listen to the PR hacks (ph) out there, you think, oh, hell the gulf is on the roll. It is not.

We will bring you the story next week here on the Ed Show.

Get your cellphones out. I want to know what you think. Tonight`s question, "Do you think Republicans will ever admit humans cause climate change? Text A for Yes, text B for No to 67622, you can leave a comment on our blog at ed.msnbc.com. We`ll bring the results later on in the show.

For more on our discussion tonight, let me bring in Dr. Reese Halter Conservation Biologist at MUSE school, also Tiernan Sittenfeld is with us tonight, she is a League of Conservation Voters and also, Mike Papantonio, Ring of Fire Radio host and America`s attorney.

Gentlemen -- ladies and gentlemen, great to have to have you with us tonight. It`s good to be back in New York. And Mike, you did some work with us this weekend down in the gulf. It was absolutely amazing in what we saw.

If I may focus back first of all to climate. Dr. Halter, are you off your rocker because there are some people in the Congress that are in total denial and say that people like you are nothing but an extremist when you talk about all the extremes that we`re seeing right now. In fact, they`ve been around for a long time. What`s your response to the way the Republicans are talking about climate change?

DR. REESE HALTER, CONSERVATION BIOLOGIST: Yeah. Well, good evening, Ed. You know, all I want to say is, let`s take a look at nature. Nature shows those that are looking and those that have trained for 30 plus years what`s going down. Let`s go back to 2010, Ed.

In California, which by the way supplies $44.7 billion per annum of agriculture to our nation, we are the number one producer. And 50 percent of everything on your dinner plate comes from our state. Now, the honeybees produce 27.5 million pounds of honey in 2010. That honey winds up in your favorite cereals, in your bread, in your beverages, in your sausage. In 2013, three years into our deep drought 10.9 million pounds of honey was produced. A 61 percent drop. 2014 the numbers are in, my friends tell me those numbers are lower.

Look, the trees in these droughts and the plants aren`t producing flowers. They`re not producing flowers the bees can`t go in for their nectar but worse that means that our food supply is in jeopardy.

SCHULTZ: All right.

HALTER: I`ll say it again. We`ve got to future-proof our nation now.

SITTENFELD: Tiernan, what`s your response to the President`s comments that the media and climate change just don`t seem to mix very well, that we`re ambulance chasing. I mean that`s by paraphrasing it, that`s basically what the President says if it bleeds it leads, well I can tell you that gulf is bleeding and I`m going to tell that story next week.

But the President is saying the climate change doesn`t get the coverage it deserves. What`s your response to that?

TIERNAN SITTENFELD, LEAGUE OF CONSERVATION AND VOTERS: I think historically, climate change has not gotten the attention that it deserves but I think actually ED, thanks to people like you there is more and more appropriate attention to the incredible calamity of climate change that`s clearly happening more quickly and more severely than scientist had predicted. Whether it`s the algae bloom in Toledo, Ohio that prevented 500,000 people from drinking their own water, that droughts, the forest fires that you have talked about.

So whether has not been enough attention to the problems, I think that we are seeing that start to change and I hope that more and more people will follow your lead. Because the thing that`s encouraging is that there are so many solutions at our disposal whether it`s doubling down on energy efficiency, on clean renewable energy like wind and solar, on cutting carbon pollution and yes, keeping the dirtiest fuels on the ground like Tar Sands oil in the ground for good.

MIKE PAPANTONIO, RING OF FIRE RADIO: Well, a large number of mediales (ph) have made a potentially catastrophic climate change story into snooze, in snowier moment for a couple of reasons.

First the American public is now officially reading and comprehending around on middle school levels so it make it easy for Fox to come in with a 10-second sound bites, and simply take the story and make it into a disaster.

Second, Americans are experiencing this. They`re not experiencing this dust bowl neighborhood like we see in Texas and California. They can`t see oceans creeping up to their front door. They see winter storm chaos and they don`t understand that they`re already experiencing climate change.

They don`t get that because at the same time, they`re seeing these worst storms take place. They`re listening to Fox quality soft more comments about how snow storms prove that there is no global warming so it`s difficult to explain the science behind that in a 10-seconds sound bite. Also there`s this overwhelming amount of corporate and billionaire money being pumped into think tanks lobbying fraudulent Astroturf groups to convince us not to worry that it`s all a big hoax.

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

PAPANTONIO: The ship really isn`t sinking. Ignore all the water that`s on the deck.

And so its complex and you can`t really blame the media entirely. It`s a tough story to tell in 10 seconds. And when you have competitors like these think tanks in Fox News destroying the effort to tell the story, it becomes very difficult.

SCHULTZ: Well the denial by elected officials is utterly amazing. Now, Reese, you do think that there`s any doubt that climate change and severe weather patterns are connected?

HALTER: Well, there is no doubt, Ed. And as a matter of fact -- if we went down to Miami and you ask the mayor, they`ve got a very big problem. They`re below sea level and my colleague two weeks ago at Harvard released a paper showing that sea level is actually rising 25 percent faster than we previously thought.

Again, for every problem there are at least three solutions.

Now, we mortals on Main Street that can translate into jobs...

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

HALTER: ... into future-proofing and it`s going to happen, Ed.

SCHULTZ: Tiernan, is the media from your standpoint would they -- if they did a better job and focused more and I think that`s basically what the President was asking the media to do, that it would eliminate these deniers, that it would turn some heads, that maybe their attitude would be different.

SITTENFELD: Absolutely. Although there`s been progress clearly that media needs to focused a lot more on climate science, on asking members of Congress and people running for president, do they deny the basic science of climate change, are they going to side with polluting industries or are they going to stand up for future generations and really try to protect the planet?

And I think, again, we had started to see some change but more and more we need to see calling...

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

SITTENFELD: ... out of the more than a hundred climate change deniers in Congress. That is simply outrageous. There was a little bit of progress with the amendment that Senator Schatz offered. There were actually five Republicans in the Senate who acknowledge that climate change is happening and that humans are significantly contributing to it but that does beg the question.

Well, if you think its happening then what is the solution? What are the actions that we should take? Should we be cutting carbon pollution from coal burning power plants and absolutely the answered yes...

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

SITTENFELD: ... and overwhelmingly in support of it.

SCHULTZ: Well, I think that the media did spend more time on it, that there would be some attitudes changing and I think you can use BP as an example Mike Papantanio, they`ve told a lot of people that things are OK in the gulf. Don`t worry about it.

PAPANTONIO: Yeah. BP is spending millions of dollars a month to convince the rest of the country that there is no problem here and look the other way. And they`re using the science denial. It`s destroyed the ecosystem down here on the coast. Anybody who`s knowledgeable, who will the face the facts knows that. But the real ugly part of the story Ed is that there`s not enough pressure on BP.

Somebody has got to step on their neck...

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

PAPANTONIO: ... and make sure that they do what they`re supposed to do. When you were down here, when MSNBC was covering this story, all of a sudden people are saying, they`re grateful for the idea that the media is again paying attention to a story that has not going away.

There are still dolphins coming up on the shore and just (inaudible)...

SCHULTZ: We`ll show you pictures of Cat Island that you won`t believe. Remember, Cat Island five years ago? You got to see it today. It`s all coming up next week.

Dr. Reese Halter, Tiernan Sittenfeld and also Mike Papantonio, great to have you with us tonight. Thank you so much.

Remember to answer tonight`s question there at the bottom of the screen. I appreciate you`re sharing your comments with us on Twitter, follow us on Ed Show, and like us on Facebook. We appreciate that.

Coming up, Alabama slammer, a conservative judge tries to slam the door on equal rights for the same sex couples. Plus, President Obama talks about Russian aggression and what it means for international intervention in Ukraine.

Keep it here. We`ll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOORE: Nobody`s delivers you (ph), don`t you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.

MOORE: The Supreme Court?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

MOORE: Nobody delivers you to come before God and say we`re entitled to violate every rule you`ve made.

Alabama`s ban on same-sex marriages last month calling it unconstitutional. The judge put her ruling on-hold until today in order to give the Supreme Court time to intervene.

Late Sunday night, Moore issued a letter ordering local officials to deny marriage licenses to gay couples. Moore said those who violate his order would face a reprimand by Governor Robert Bentley.

It`s a desperate and dramatic 11th-hour move. Many were reprimanded -- reminded should I say of a moments on 51 years ago.

In June of 1963, Alabama Governor George Wallace stood in front of the state house door in the University of Alabama. He tried to block two black students from registering for classes. Wallace didn`t have the authority to stop integration. Wallace will be remembered for standing up against equality.

Roy Moore is now trying to block the courthouse door. It`s unclear how much weight Moore`s order will actually carry.

This morning, the Supreme Court announced that it would not intervene to stop marriage equality rulings from going into affect in Alabama.

Alabama now joins 36 states around the country in the district of Colombia in allowing same-sex marriage.

Joining me tonight on this issue is Mike Rogers of rawstory.com. Mike, good to have you with us tonight.

I guess we`re going to back to the 1950s or 1960s here. But as you see it, first of all, what`s your reaction to this and what authority does Moore actually have here as you see it?

MIKE ROGERS, RAWSTORY.COM: Well, I think he hit the nail on the head these guys want to drag us back to the 1960s. What Moore did was basically tell the judges in his state that they could not follow, that they have to not marry and issue licenses for lesbian and gay couples and same-sex couples. But the governor who kind of wants to write defenses said he will not prosecute any judges who go ahead and issued married licenses.

So people in the state are getting married and I think that`s really what the most important thing is that hundreds of couples are able to walk down the aisle and, you know, nothing horrible is happening all over the state.

SCHULTZ: So, what if a judge does deny to issue the license? What are gay couples could do?

ROGERS: There is one case that we`ve heard of where judge has refused to open the office and a same-sex couple that went they`re decided to file a case that would put, that would hold their judging contempt. So, those that don`t want to do or avoiding it at this point -- and as I`ve said he wouldn`t even open this morning...

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

ROGERS: ... to issue those licenses.

SCHULTZ: At least, 8 of the states 67 counties were told are still blocking same-sex marriage licenses, so what is next in this fight?

ROGERS: Well, you know, it`s unbelievable. There are four cases right down before the Supreme Court that they have accepted as a group from Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee.

So, that`s really -- what everybody is expecting is that we`ll hear those cases in a (inaudible) finally and we hope the court will once and for all say marriage equality for same-sex couples is required across America and then it`s a constitutional right.

So, as I said earlier, these are kind of sideshows. You have Roy Moore who thinks he is going to stop the courts of history. He`s already been tossed out once from his position on that court because of his refusal is to follow the Supreme Court and now he`s trying to do it again.

You know, basically, pandering to his electorate at this point.

SCHULTZ: Well, how much confidence do you have that the Alabama Governor, Governor Bentley is not going to take action? You know, that he`s not going to do anything against elected officials who fail to follow Alabama state law?

ROGERS: Well, he put out this statement today that said he wouldn`t. Of course, sometimes these guys get so much political pressure that they have to sway based on what they know -- against what they know is right.

So it really remains to be seen over the long haul what he`ll do, particularly in places where this judge for example has refused to open the office in order to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couple.

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

ROGERS: And it will be interesting to see if he steps up and fulfills his responsibility under the court.

Somebody needs to educate Roy Moore apparently, again, that the federal courts who precede the state courts in this country...

SCHULTZ: Do you think that there is a parallel between George Wallace back in the day when he was trying to stop the inauguration of the University of Alabama and what`s happening right now?

ROGERS: I do. I mean, here we have government officials who are refusing to cooperate and put forth the things that they`re supposed to for their electorate. I also don`t want to diminish, you know, a lot of the violence that was going on in the 1960s that we`re not seeing as much of that and those kinds of things but we`re still seeing some of it.

So there are some similarities seriously. Hopefully, again, this will be seeing as a sideshow in just a couple of months when it comes to marriage equality in across America.

SCHULTZ: And finally, do you think gay couples in Alabama will just not get married? Do you think this will curb the unions of gay couples?

ROGERS: You know, we`ve seen time and time again throughout history what people will do to secure their equal rights. And I think that they will not sit back if there`s a courtroom or a probate judge who will sit back and not let them get married. We`ll hear people go into other counties.

People -- all people want is the right to equality and the same protections for their spouses and for their kids and that`s all anybody is seeking. And as we`ve see it, it`s really heading that way and these guys are, you know, nano (ph) thoughts when it comes to this business.

SCHULTZ: No doubt.

Mike Rogers, great to have you with us tonight. Rawstory.com, one of my favorite websites...

ROGERS: Thank you, Ed.

SCHULTZ: ... no doubt, great work.

Coming up, tough talk on Russia. We`ll talk about the latest round of international negotiations. Will Putin back down at all? And later, a legacy of racial equality from one of the greatest of college sports.

Next, your questions Ask Ed Live coming up here on the Ed Show. We`ll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: Welcome back to the Ed Show. I appreciate all your questions in our Ask Ed Live segment.

Our first question tonight comes from Thomas. He wants to know, what will happen to the millions of gallons of oil that they just found at the bottom of the gulf?

Well, this is a story that unfolded last week. What`s going to happen? Good question. That`s the $64 question.

Number one, are they just going to let it sit there? Is anybody going to even attempt to clean it up? And who`s the overriding authority on trying to get somebody to clean it up? Do you think it`s good to have millions of gallons of oil still sitting at the bottom of the Gulf? Oh, there is no damage at all, is there?

I think the Obama administration needs to engage. And it think one of the things the President could focus on and his administration the next two years is to relocate that boot that they were going to put on the neck of BP and make sure some folks down there are made whole and the environmental clean up starting with this gets back on the roll.

The three major indexes fell today. The Dow lost 95 points, the S&P almost 9 and the NASDAQ shed 18 points.

McDonald`s share slid more than 1 percent today on news that sales fell 1.8 percent last month. All sales rose slightly in the U.S. they fell about 12.5 percent in the Asia Pacific, in Middle East and Africa.

And a new Citigroup report says over supply of oil could drive crisis down to $20 a barrel this year.

That`s it from CNBC, first in business worldwide.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: Good to have you back with us tonight, folks. Thanks for watching.

Ukraine`s violence may demand a policy split between Germany and the United States. German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited the President in Washington today. The two leaders spoke about the crisis in the Ukraine. President Obama will consider arming Ukrainian forces against pro-Russian separatist.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: If in fact diplomacy fails, what I`ve asked my team to do is to look at all options. What other means can we put in place to change Mr. Putin`s calculus? And the possibility of lethal defensive weapons is one of those options that`s being examined.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: The President says a military solution is unlikely but is possible. Germany is keeping weapons out of the conversation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANGELA MERKEL, GERMANY CHANCELLOR: I`ve always said I don`t see a military solution to this conflict, but we have to put all our efforts in brining about a diplomatic solution. No matter what we decide the alliance between the United States and Europe will continue to stand, will continue to be solid even though on certain issues we may not always agree.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Germany remains on accord with United States on sanctions imposed on Russia. The sanctions remains on Vladimir Putin`s mind for sure. The Russian President traveled to Egypt today to strengthen ties and possibly drop the United States dollar from bilateral trade deals. Peace talks with France, Germany, Russia and the Ukraine will resume on Wednesday.

Joining me tonight on a Rapid Response Panel, Steve Clemons who`s an MSNBC Contributor and Editor-at-large for the Atlantic, and also with us tonight Colonel Jack Jacobs, a Medal of Honor recipient and MSNBC military analyst. Gentlemen, great to have you with us tonight.

I almost feel like we`re watching a real life "Blacklist" unfold here. I mean, this is -- Steve, why do I feel like we`re on the verge to getting into it with the Russians?

STEVE CLEMONS, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: Well, because everything we hear and see is directed that way. We`ve got, you know, British pilots out there intervening Russian bombers over Eastern Europe. We`ve got threats in the international finance system to rip Russia out of the SWIFT code system which will have staggering consequences. We see a Russia that is economies imploding with both sanctions we`ve been impose and cheap oil. And we see an increasing escalation in Ukraine, at East Ukraine itself, of Russian troops and of Russian armaments. And people saying hey, we need to do something.

So the temperature is very hot and we`re tilting into something and I am very concerned about it because...

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

CLEMONS: ... right now the tilt is towards action and that`s what Angela Merkel`s trying to throw a flag up and say, hey wait.

SCHULTZ: Colonel is Vladimir Putin going to annex Ukraine?

COL. JACK JACOBS, MILITARY ANALYST: I think so. Well, not all of it. What he wants is to the strip that contains what most of the Russians which includes, unfortunately for Ukraine, the area on the banks of the Black Sea which will landlocked Ukraine. So that`s really what he really is.

SCHULTZ: Putin is not going to back down, is he?

JACOBS: I don`t think so. You know, we`ve squeeze them economically, he`s not backing down. Oil is at $40 or less level that go lower a barrel. That`s where most of their money is made. He`s not backing down. You just heard Merkel say to President of the United States, you guys are on your own if you`re talking about doing anything about it.

SCHULTZ: What kind of assistance would we give them?

JACOBS: Well, it`s not going to be machine guns and small arms and automatic weapon. It`s going to be relatively serious stuff but none of it can be of American manufactures. So it`s going to be things like counter-battery radar for example...

SCHULTZ: Missiles?

JACOBS: Anti- tank missiles, multiple rocket launchers systems and perhaps most important from the standpoint of Ukrainians shoulder fired surface to air missiles, SA-7 types that will protect.

SCHULTZ: Would it make a difference in this conflict?

JACOBS: It might if there are enough of them. And if the Ukrainians can get their act together and can have enough people at the decisive places in time, but it`s really dangerous to Ukrainians. They`re always in danger of having substantial units of their army surrounded and decimated, that`s really, really, dangerous.

SCHULTZ: Steve Clemons, how much of a political fight is this going to be here in America. I mean there are going to be some folks who say we can`t allow Putin to continue with this aggression. The President is talking about more options. It`s almost like we`re a little slow to the punch here.

CLEMONS: No. It`s going to be another one of these moments where presidential contenders coming in 2016 want to paint Barack Obama as weak, diffident, you know, wobbling. When in fact, I think the President through most of the Ukraine craze crisis has been very smart. At the beginning, he said we need the Ukraine to define itself as both European and next to Russia that we can`t have one swing versus the other. He`s been very judicious about not going to far because that, you know, we`re feeling this is Ukraine, a silo into itself. But if we basically escalate, if we throw arms into this, we need to begin thinking at that moment...

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

CLEMONTS: ... what are the other areas that this could explode into, what are the unintended consequences and that`s a huge deal. And people like Henry Kissenger and others who`ve been warning, do you really want to have slippery slope into a new Cold War? There`s a lot strategic amnesia in Washington about what that really means. I could be a huge deal.

SCHULTZ: So do you think Steve that, Vladimir Putin can be negotiated with that...

CLEMONS: I do.

SCHULTZ: ... we can move him in the correct direction to back off the slaughter and that`s exactly what it is right now.

CLEMONS: Look, there`s a lot of demonization of Vladimir Putin and he deserves most of it, but not all of it.

In his view, he`s a strategic calculator who is basically making the west now pay a price and also to demonstrate, you know, in kind of, you know, a run of, you know, bears and bulls in a market. He is sort of testing our resolve for an area that is 300 miles from Moscow and, you know, figure out how far it is from Washington D.C.

It is a geographically stressed area. It doesn`t mean he should be appeased at all but it does raise the fundamental question of whether or not from a strategic perspective, we`re willing to sit down with this man and have a first principle`s talk about what he is trying to...

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

CLEMONS: ... achieve in the world because I look at this as negotiations and what we`re trying to achieve in the world. And that discussion, a strategic discussion at the highest levels has not occurred.

JACOBS: No, we don`t have a plan, and I think Steve is absolutely right. I don`t know whether or not you can negotiate with this guy but negotiation is absolutely essentially because they`re going to have to be some trades made because I can`t see no matter what we`re going to give the Ukrainians they`re actually going to be able to beat back to Russians.

SCHULTZ: How -- and let`s go down the road of military -- American military hardware. What would Putin`s reaction be?

JACOBS: Well, I think he would redouble his efforts to take overall of Ukraine and then, what we`re doing is if we`re talking about raising the ante there he will too and then what are we going to say when we`ve decided, we`re not sending 250,000 Americans to go fight in Ukraine, we`re not sending -- we`re not going to be there for a decade to make sure Ukrainians can defend themselves against Russia.

I think we understand that, but talk is cheap and if we think that we`re going to be able to do it with anything other than a serious conversation at the highest levels, I think we`re sadly mistaken because we`re not interested in going all in.

SCHULTZ: Yeah. And finally, Steve Clemons, price of oil has a lot to do with this. If his economy is going well, we may not be where we are?

CLEMONS: Well, let me just invert that around. There were times and we decided that Russia would never have a place in NATO. When Russia was on basket case it was coming apart and we thought we`re high on the saddle and Russia is inconsequential.

When Russia began to get some muscle, began to sort of -- begin getting capable and powerful in the world and Putin positioned himself to be the Ronald Reagan of Moscow, its morning in Moscow. They then -- that was a, you know, a Russia on the move and so I think it`s a big mistake...

SCHULTZ: Yeah.

CLEMONS: ... to think that when a nation is experiencing, you know, an economic implosion that it`s easier to deal with. It`s actually much, much more dangerous, much more a paranoid, collapsing, complicated Russia is going to be much more dug in with what`s its doing.

So we need to be careful with that analogy. It`s when it`s weak that we need to create a contour back to some sort of global deal.

SCHULTZ: All right, Steve Clemons, Colonel Jack Jacobs. Gentlemen, thanks so much for the conversation.

Coming up, one of Al Gore`s biggest dreams becomes reality. Stick around for Trender. We`ll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: And at the two-minute drill tonight, the hard court legend.

The sports world says goodbye to Dean Smith. The former Tar Heels coach died peacefully in his home in North Carolina over the weekend.

Smith was an innovator on and off the court. He pushed for desegregation and transform University of North Carolina basketball team in one of the greatest dynasties of all time.

In his 36 seasons, he raked up 27 NCAA tournaments, appearances 11 final fours and a pair of national championships.

Next. Puck up, Rob Gronkowski took his talents off the field and into the rank. The tight end is riding high after the Patriots Super Bowl win, how high you asked?

Well on Saturday`s Bruins Islanders hockey game Gronk spike the puck high enough to clear the rink glass -- I was wondering if they had another puck ready to go.

And finally, I got your number. You never get a vacation from being a Patriots fan.

A man visiting the Bahamas got called out for wearing his number 75 Pats jersey.

So, one of his fans managed to miss but was sure glad he was standing right there. He got a handshake and an autograph.

There`s a lot more coming up on the Ed Show. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: Time now for trenders in social media. This is where you can follow us, facebook.com/edshow, twitter.com/edshow and ed.msnbc.com and of course my website @WeGotEd. And of course my podcast is free, you can get it 24/7. You can find it @WeGotEd.com, rawstory.com and ringoffireradio.com and of course search Ed Schultz on iTunes. You get it free 24/7. OK.

The Ed Show Social Media Nation has decided and we are reporting. Here today`s top trenders voted on by you.

OBAMA: Join our campaign to stop this violence. Go to ItsOnUs.org and take a pledge, it`s on us, all of us, to create a culture where violence isn`t tolerated.

SCHULTZ: The Number two trender, jumping for joy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you remember those ball pits that you used to jump in as a kid.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So there is one just for the grown ups in London.

SCHULTZ: Brits have a ball with an adult-friendly ball pit.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: An adults-only plastic playground where you can be a kid again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where is he?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ball pit.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was a holiday surprised for employees that design agency Pearlfisher.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Add more balls.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you play more and work just a little bit less, we`ll probably be more efficient.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to go home now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But I`m still working.

SCHULTZ: And today`s top trender, DSCOVR.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We stand at this point of sort of on the threshold of history.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And you do space satellite is that to launch which will dramatically improve solar storm warning.

SCHULTZ: NASA`s latest launch will help track solar storms.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The DSCOVR satellite will continue monitoring the constant stream of charged particles from the sun also called solar wind. DSCOVR will orbit the sun in a fixed position relative to earth.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It will be located at that -- 1.1 million miles from earth.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So the (inaudible) can electrify the earth upper outer atmosphere causing power surges on the ground.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These geomagnetic storms can be very damaging to the critical infrastructure on earth.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Having some advance warning is critical to us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: And joining us tonight, Derrick Pitts, Chief Astronomer at the Franklin Institute. Mr. Pitts, always a pleasure. Good to have you with us tonight.

This is pretty fascinating stuff but is it really important for us to monitor the sun`s activity that would affect our climate? Your thoughts.

DERRICK PITTS, CHIEF ASTRONOMER, FRANKLIN INSTITUTE: Ed absolutely. It is important for us to monitor this sun in this way.

This is the first time that NOAA has had an operational space weather satellite in orbit. And the information that will be gathered by this will be extremely important to helping us protect satellites in orbit around earth and even to help us protect power transmission systems here on earth in case there`s a very, very intense solar storm.

So the information gathered along with the images of the earth and the monitoring the weather systems are always vital and always helpful.

SCHULTZ: Why are we doing it now? What wasn`t it done previously?

PITTS: Well, it wasn`t done previously because there have been ways for us to make these observations from earth before but it turns out that there was this satellite left over from about a decade ago that happened to have the architecture that would worked really well for this particular mission, this particular kind of study. And being able to place the satellite at this location about 930,000 miles away from earth, outside the earth`s magnetic field, gives us this opportunity to do this really intense study of the solar wind coming in.

So, with the materials available, the equipment available and the launch services available, these things come together to make it a right time to do this.

SCHULTZ: Have we seen a lot of changes in the sun`s activity over the pass decades?

PITTS: We`ve been learning a lot more about the sun`s activity over the last decade for sure and we`re beginning to learn many things about the sun that we didn`t know before and that`s always really exciting. And the more we learn about the sun, the more we can be prepared for any sorts of intense solar storms that happen.

While we`ve been observing over decades, we`ve been able to see the kind of regular activity that the sun has but we also don`t know everything there is to know about the sun, Ed. So, it behooves us to want to gather as much information so we can have -- as complete a picture of how the sun operates as possible.

SCHULTZ: As a Chief Astronomer at the Franklin Institute and this is not a political question, but who gets credit for this?

PITTS: Well, I think the scientists that came up with the idea that we can use this particular satellite architecture left over from 10 years to do this work really should get a lot of credit for this because they recognized that there`s a piece of equipment hanging around that could be use, could be could be pressed into service.

So the NASA scientists, the NOAA scientists and all other researchers who figure that this is a good way to get that information really should get a lot of credit for this.

SCHULTZ: What do you think the most vital piece of information that we`re going to get from doing this, from this satellite?

PITTS: Well, actually it`s yet to be discovered because we don`t know everything about the sun but the more data that we collect about the sun the more we can learn about the sun.

I think the most important thing though there are two really important things. One is the early warning capability that we`ll get from this, Ed. So we can have up to 60 minutes notice of a very intense solar magnetic storm heading our way. And at the same time, we also have this beautiful 24-hour view of the earth that allows us to better track weather systems on the surface and that early warning always turns into saved lives.

So those are really, really big important points.

SCHULTZ: Would this help us in our solar technology the way that is advancing and has advanced in this country and the manufacturing of it and what not globally? Would this advance that?

PITTS: You know, given that there are two different types of operating systems for electrical generation onboard this spacecraft and what we might use here on earth, well we might not say there isn`t much connection. But when you look at the way in which spacecraft are powered specially with close proximity to the sun or in the inner solar system, solar panels really do work very well and there is no reason why we shouldn`t further pursue the development of a solar panel technology that efficient as the ones on space are can become nearly as efficient here on earth.

SCHULTZ: Interesting stuff, did you think this whenever get to where we are right now? I mean, what`s the next big thing beyond this?

PITTS: Actually the next big thing is the fact that SpaceX is the company that`s launching this spacecraft for NOAA, for NASA and the Air Force. Their ability to provide low-cost reliable access to space is really, really important.

SCHULTZ: That`s interesting. Derrick Pitts, great to have you with us tonight. Thank you so much.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.END

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